The attic has long offered romantic connotation as a place to discover forgotten treasures or toil in private, as Jo March did in “Little Women.” But it also serves a mundane function–as leftover space at the top of a house.
Many homeowners are eager to maximize existing square footage into livable quarters since it’s considered more cost-effective than adding on. Some think the attic is a smart place to transform.
It was for Ellen Connolly, a forensic scientist, who turned the half-story of her circa 1920 bungalow in the Portage Park neighborhood into a master bedroom and office. The prior owners had drywalled the area but not updated its ventilation system.
Connolly added a new furnace and air conditioner to make it livable all year, replaced the worn roof and installed skylights in the new one, and put an open stair in the dining room so going upstairs wouldn’t seem like being banished to a distant zone. She also left space for a future bathroom, which might require a dormer, a roofed projection to offer more space and light. She spent a total of $20,000.
“It made sense economically because the ceiling at its highest point was 8 feet, which made the remodeled area feel open, rather than claustrophobic. I didn’t double my home’s existing square footage, but it was close. I doubled the number of bedrooms, if you count the office,” she said.
Redoing the attic in his 1888 Chicago home also made sense financially and in terms of livable square footage, says Seymour Turner, vice president at Airoom Architects & Builders Inc. in Lincolnshire.
Turner’s upgrade was part of a total house makeover that added 1,100 square feet to the home’s existing 2,300 square feet. The attic, now referred to as “the third floor,” was carved into a combination play/sleepover area for his young children, a guest bedroom and a home office. The total cost was much steeper than Connolly’s–between $70,000 and $80,000, but well worth it. “I like going up there, and there was no way to add on since an addition would have eaten up the back yard,” he says.
Remodeling an attic is not always smart. The transformation may become more extensive and costly than redoing existing spaces such as a basement, particularly if a roof needs to be raised or replaced. In addition, it isn’t always an easy place to get to or bring furniture up to, says architect Kenneth Schroeder of Schroeder Murchie Laya.
The bottom line of whether to tackle this upgrade is to weigh several factors, including whether it’s a place where you will want to spend time, advises Lou Manfredini, president of Quinn Development Group Corp., a home building and renovation company, who is known as Ace Hardware’s “Helpful Hardware Man.”
Here’s what to keep in mind when considering renovating an attic:
Sufficient living space
Diverse roof shapes and rafter configurations offer different heights to work with to create an appealing living space. The designs that auger best are ones with steep roofs such as an A-frame, French Country or Georgian, says Jon Bieritz, president of JB Architecture Group in Naperville. What doesn’t work, he says, are Prairie and Mediterranean homes because of shallow roofs.
Ceiling height and overall dimensions are less of a consideration when planning a play area for children. Offices can also be set up with a desk placed under a slanting roof line. Teens may prefer to spend time in a third-floor hideaway than in a below-grade basement.
The amount of livable space will hinge to some degree on how much structural work needs to be done. Adding layers of insulation, drywall, ceiling tile and floorboards can pare square footage. Adding a dormer will increase the feeling of space and light, but certain building codes may not permit it, said David Malato, a general contractor with Calvene Inc. in Chicago.
Access and egress
While many older homes have pull-down staircases that work fine for quick trips to the attic, most homeowners don’t want to make that type of trek frequently. Owners need to be sure that a traditional staircase that’s wide and high enough can be built, often as a continuation of an existing stair. Some building codes dictate heights and widths.
Other regulations stipulate that a secondary egress be included for a third floor if bedrooms are created and if the house stands a certain height off the ground. A popular solution is a spiral staircase.
The size of a window may be another requirement. In Berwyn, for example, window size is based on room size and then 50 percent of that window must be able to be opened for ventilation.
“Firefighters with tanks on their backs have to be able to get in and out without tearing down walls,” said Anthony Biancofiori, Berwyn building director.
Economics
Although redoing existing square footage is traditionally less costly than adding new, it may not be if changes get complicated. Most attic remodelings require alteration.
Rarely is plumbing and wiring roughed in as they are in basements, says David Karlson, president of Karlson Kitchens in Evanston. He and others advise putting in a bath to increase enjoyment, preferably above an existing one to cut costs.
Besides making the changes, they need to be done properly. Among more typical problems are not having a big enough heating and cooling system or second system, with the result that the attic gets too hot in summer and winter, says Manfredini.
Likewise, if insulation isn’t installed properly in the space behind the drywall or underneath the roof, those areas won’t breathe. Overinsulation can create moisture buildup that leads to mildew.
Also, floors need to be sturdy enough to support a “live load” of people moving about, rather than just supporting the ceiling below, says Turner.
Local building codes
Before a project goes forward, an area’s building code needs to be considered. Many municipalities try to enforce or tighten regulations, in part a reaction to increased traffic due to more McMansions gobbling up lots and owners overimproving existing houses. One way is by controlling a home’s allowable floor-to-area ratio, or FAR, which is based on lot size, livable space and zoning district. It represents how much house can be built or added on.
In Chicago, depending on the district, an attic with a 6-foot 9-inch ceiling would be included in the FAR ratio, while two years before, an attic with a 7-foot ceiling would have been included. Tightening the restriction is designed to discourage owners from converting every space to living quarters, says Edward Kus, acting zoning administrator. “Many homeowners came in with plans to show they were going to use an attic for storage, but then turned it into a bedroom and exceeded the ratio,” he said.
While the goal of remodeling should be owner enjoyment, few projects are undertaken without considering resale. A project that differentiates one house from another can prove worthwhile, says Turner, who thinks he’d get back 100 percent of his attic cost if he were to sell.
Experts advise checking sales of comparable-size area houses and looking into remodeling trends in such publications as Remodeling magazine’s “Cost vs. Value” report. In its 2001 survey, an attic bedroom that cost $32,371 in the Midwest would have a resale value of $21,604 or a 67 percent return.
But Manfredini adds a few words of caution: “You can’t identify 100 percent of your potential buyer–and to one group a finished attic may be what they’re looking for. You’ll never lose if you maximize the use of your home.”
